On Friday may 22^nd, 2009 it will have been a year since Dan Garcia passed away. Over a thousand people have attended various services for Dan last year.  A soccer game was played in his memory and a great many people had a wonderful day celebrating Dan’s life.  Friends of Dan Garcia have raised over $6,000 for cancer research on his behalf in the last year.  He was selected as the Cotati Chamber of Commerce honoree for the Spirit of Sonoma Award for 2008.  This award is given to those who have contributed to the economic development and enhancement of the communities in which they live and work.  Janet, his wife and DJ, his cherished daughter, accepted the award on his behalf. Dan gave back to his community in ways not many others have.   He contributed his time, energy and money to children’s sports…every sport that asked for help including: Soccer, Softball, little league & pee wee baseball, Hockey, Swimming, CYO Basketball, Pop Warner football and SSU Athletics.  He also helped children outside of sports with the Cotati Kids Parade, raising money for the Sami Disharoon Brain Tumor Research Foundation, the Drug awareness Program and The Police Canine Unit. He gave to the Elks and Rotary Clubs of Santa Rosa and Terra Linda.  He was a member of the Rohnert Park and Cotati Chambers of Commerce.

Dan had many passions in his life but his most cherished was coaching his daughter on their soccer team, Rage.  Rage was one of the most successful teams ever to come out of Rohnert Park and Dan coached “his girls” from 1997 to 2006.  Rage won 7 District 5 level III league titles and was also a State finalist in the 2006 Association Cup.  Rage traveled very well too, winning dozens of tournaments all over Northern California.  With Dans help the team raised over $57,000 to attend the 2005 Norway Cup and compete against over 120 teams from all over the world in Norway. They finished in the top 20.